Hetalia One-Shots - REQUESTS CLOSED!

Norway x Belarus - Little Sunflower

Natalya walked briskly through the market, dress swishing at her knees, not stopping to say hello to anyone. Who would she greet anyway? Whenever she smiled, everyone thought she was about to stab them. Not that she smiled often, anyway.

At the flower booth, she bought a handful of cheery yellow sunflowers. Imported from Italy, the merchant said, but she had to pay a little extra. Money was definitely not abundant, but it was a week until Christmas, and Natalya would have spent all the money she had for ten sunflowers that day.

Back at her small cottage, she braced herself before gently pushing open the door to the room across hers. She was greeted by the sight of yellow - dozens upon dozens of sunflowers, resting in vases and jars and even in cups. She set to work, clearing up the older and dead flowers and replacing them with the new batch, like she did every week.

"You'll come back, right? Soon?"

"Of course I will, little sunflower. I could never leave someone as special as you forever!"

Natalya shook herself out of the recurring memories to find something glistening on her hand. A tear. She lifted her hand and watched as the tear dropped onto the floor, its crystalline surface now just a dark spot in the light-brown carpet. Before she was able to stop herself, more tears seemed to materialize out of her eyes, rolling down her cheeks and soaking into the carpet. Her body shook with sobs as she allowed gravity to pull her onto the floor, pressing her face to the carpet.

"When will you come back, Ivan?"

▽

Lukas pulled his coat tighter around him as he walked through the narrow alleyway, watching as the light snow settled a thin coat of white powder on the dirty streets. He turned left and found himself facing Natalya Arlovskaya's house. He remembered her, of course. More than most. In elementary school, she had been the smallest and the least-liked of the students. In middle school, she had been called a freak. In high school, she was the creepy stalker, supposedly obsessed with her brother, though no one really knew how much of that was true.

But she had never made it through high school, because one morning halfway through, she had been called from class to say goodbye to her brother. And Lukas never saw her again.

Still, he hadn't dwelled on her. She may have been his school crush, but he knew that would never have worked out anyway. And he had dated other girls. Even boys, albeit in secret. Though, none seemed quite right for him in the end. He was just better off alone. That was it.

Lukas came to realize that he had just been staring at Natalya's house for ten minutes. He shook his head and came to his senses, then started forward again. He had only walked a few steps, though, before walking straight into someone. Their heads knocked together and Lukas found himself pinning Natalya Arlovskaya to the ground. How that had happened, Lukas had no idea.

The trash bag she had been holding spilled out onto the street, covering the snow with dried sunflower petals. Before Lukas could react, Natalya shoved him away and turned, picking up all the flowers and crammed them back into the trash bag. But not before Lukas saw the tears glistening in her beautifully blue eyes.

"Are... you okay?" Lukas asked hesitantly.

"I'm fine." Natalya's short, clipped answer was obviously a lie, since Lukas heard her voice waver.